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2016 (continued)

"The most useful analogy to describe the situation in Syria that keeps changing by the week is that of a kaleidoscope. With every turn, the elements comprising the image within the kaleidoscope change shape, place, and color— but they always end up in some kind of balanced relationship that gives the whole image integrity, symmetry and some temporary permanence. This is Syria today with its dozens of major political and military elements that change positions but always result in some kind of temporary balance of power..."

"Syria grapples with finding a formula that would maintain the external boundaries of the state while renegotiating internal territorial divisions, citizen rights, and identities. This occurs five years since the start of a violent series of conflicts that make it very difficult to return to the pre-war norm of a central government that dictated life, values, and power in every corner of the land."

"Hundreds of thousands of desperate and dehumanized individuals transform their former local grumblings or security-forced passivity into a growing global network of terrorists and anarchists whose numbers are beyond the capacity of any intelligence system’s ability to monitor, arrest, prevent, or shut down."

"The total potential annual costs of climate change direct damage impacts under the highest emissions scenario, the report says, would reach $2.8 billion a year by 2040 and a staggering $23 billion a year by 2080. The total cumulative costs of direct damage impacts and forgone economic growth potential would reach figures that are almost incomprehensible for a small state like Lebanon: $139 billion by 2080..."

"This stark lesson in how history happens captures the hard realities of heartless foreign powers and helpless local citizens that have shaped the Arab world over many recent decades. These top and bottom levels of war’s impact help us make sense of what has been happening in the Arab world for decades now."

"The Obama administration appears determined to do something in its last year in office to maintain the hope that a negotiated peace agreement could be reached one day. The two main options, according to recurring news reports, seem to be a UN Security Council resolution or a presidential speech that locks in the two-state framework for a permanent peace accord."

"The consequence of all that has occurred in the presidential pre-contests to date should be significant, in several arenas. The most important one is that by revealing both the good and bad things about the United States, it shows what it really is: a unique, wealthy country with immense power, formidable technological and institutional assets, and impressive values that have been codified into law— mainly the principle of the consent of the governed — but also a country with a dark and dangerous side that accepts racism, bigotry, lying by public officials, hatred of foreigners, deceptive advertising, and using the military to carry out war crimes and other bad things around the world..."

"Jordan gave the Arab world two reasons to be proud this week. One was the nomination of the film Theeb for an academy award, and the other was the statement to the 31st session of the UN Human Rights Council by Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights."

"Western powers constantly mention partition and redrawing borders because European officials applied this idea when the modern Middle East was created around 1915-1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. This is the easiest way, in their minds, to resolve nagging wars such as those in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya, whose export of refugees, terrorism and human despair threatens the peace and security of the Middle East and the rest of the world as well. War in Iraq? Break it up. War in Syria? Redraw the borders, and so it goes, century after century..."

"The unusual state of national leaderships in parts of the Arab world was captured in the Saudi Arabian decision this week to withdraw the $4 billion in aid it had promised Lebanon, and instead promise $5 billion in aid to Sudan. This meant that Riyadh had withdrawn support for a government that had no president, due to the inability of Lebanon’s feuding politicians to agree on one, and instead was supporting a president in Sudan who is wanted by the International Criminal Court..."

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